Configurable workflow editor for multimedia editing systems and methods therefor

ABSTRACT

A distributed system and methods for web-based multimedia content (MMC) including a global media hub (GMH) server computer ( 500 ) and a multiplicity of remote media asset node (MAN) server computers ( 510, 520, 530, 540, 550 ) and client terminals ( 515, 525, 535, 536, 537, 545, 555 ) for network-based coupling to the MAN for editing the MMC; the GMH includes a processing component, memory for storage of all metadata, and includes software operable thereon for orchestrating the processes that act on the MMC and metadata, and further includes a configurable workflow editor module having a messaging events function for notifying the user of the occurrence of user-predetermined at least one trigger event(s) within workflows through the system.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to systems and methods for editingmultimedia content, and more particularly, to systems and methods forediting multimedia content, including on demand, web-services basedediting of multimedia content over a distributed system connected by anetwork providing media as a service (MaaS).

2. Description of the Relevant Art

It is generally known in the art to provide video editing systems andmethods having a server computer and remote user terminals whereincontent stored on the server computer is edited via the remote userterminals, based on inputs from users active thereon. It is alsogenerally known in the art to manage, edit, and create digital contentsuch as text, email, music, video, digital images, and combinationsthereof from remote terminals through a network, such as the Internet,to a server computer. While the speed and bandwidth of datacommunication over the Internet has increased over time, large contentitems, such as streaming video, animation, and full-length moviesrequire higher download and upload times than other digital content. Itis also known to provide video editing systems that provide for multipleremote users to access the same content from a server computer andcontent database via a network, such as the Internet; version managementsystems and methods are also known.

By way of example of relevant art documents:

US Patent Application Publication No. 20100014826 for Video editingsystem, video editing server, and communication terminal published onJan. 21, 2010; describes a video editing platform and server that allowsmultiple terminals to connect to the server to edit the same file at thesame time, including editing on the server without loading theterminals, wherein the terminals transmit commands from a predeterminedset to the server, which are then processed by the server to effectediting of a video file.

US Patent Application Publication No. 20090150947 for Online search,storage, manipulation and delivery of video content published on Jun.11, 2009; describes a system that includes a central hub for managementof user's video content, allowing users to add, delete, view,categorize, search, send, receive, edit, and comment on stored videocontent.

US Patent Application Publication No. 20020116716 for Online videoeditor published on Aug. 22, 2002; discloses methods running on a serveroperating on a network having a client/server architecture to allow aclient control over a video editor program running on the server,including a video editing program running on a server, allowing users tochoose media available on the server or upload media to the server andallowing users to control the video editor program to create a videofile using a real time control panel view (from a remote terminal userinterface).

More particularly, relevant art relating to workflow editors withinonline content editing systems and methods may include:

US Pub. No. 20050015293 for Collaboration enhanced workflow system;Describes a system with a workflow system to provide a structure for aplurality of workflows and information regarding those who are toperform a given workflow; an interface unit to provide an interface forthe workflow system and a collaboration system. It further describesthat users of the system are notified that a work item is waiting forhim or her to act upon, wherein notifications are sent by email, instantmessage or WAP push, and may further include a hyperlink to the awaitingwork item.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,240,324 & US Pub. No. 20020170035—Event-based schedulingmethod and system for workflow activities, which describes a workflowmanagement system that allows activities to be scheduled based not onlyon completion of previous activities in the same workflow, but on theoccurrence of events, and points are defined in the workflow whereexecution should pause to wait for notification of an event.

US Pub. No. 20050055664 for Notification spheres in workflow managementsystems, which describes a method for handling notifications within aworkflow management system, including a notification sphere, whichcomprises a multitude of activities representing a subset of activitiesof the overall process model that are associated with a predefinednotification-condition. The predefined notification-condition specifiesa trigger for notification.

US Pub. No. 20030236677 for Investigating business processes, whichdescribes a method and system for investigating a business process,including monitoring an execution of a business process instance, anddetecting occurrences of a user-definable alert condition, after which,a notification is generated and sent to a user.

US Pub. No. 20050154741 for Methods and computer systems for workflowmanagement, which describes a workflow management system with anotification component for notifying a client device if requested bynotification rules, where notification may be suppressed under specificconditions; notification may be sent using an SMS message or a WML page.It further describes that notification rules may depend upon workflowparameters and may be configured and customized by a user.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to multimedia content editing and creationof derivative works using systems including at least one remote servercomputer associated with at least one client for editing and creatingmultimedia content, the at least one remote media asset node (MAN)constructed and configured in electronic communication over a network toa global media hub (GMH) including GMH server computer(s) havingsoftware operable thereon to control the orchestration of processes thatact on the multimedia content, further including a configurable workfloweditor for automatically detecting a trigger event(s) within theworkflow acting on content within the system, and for automaticallyproviding notification to a client regarding the trigger event.

It is an object of this invention to provide methods for editingmultimedia content (MMC) and creating derivative works from multimediacontent including the steps of: (a) providing a system including atleast one remote media asset node (MAN) including MAN server computerassociated with at least one client for editing multimedia content(MMC), the at least one remote MAN constructed and configured inelectronic communication over a network to a global media hub (GMH)having GMH server computer(s) having a processor, a memory, and softwareoperable thereon to control the processes that act on the MMC at theMANs, the GMH operable for storing the metadata associated with the MMC,and the MANs operable for storing the MMC; (b) from a user interface ona display coupled to the at least one remote MAN associated with aclient site and positioned in geographic proximity to the client site;(c) editing the MMC via a client web-based user interface (UI); and (d)the GMH controlling all workflows at the MANs.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a distributed systemfor editing multimedia content (MMC) including: at least one remote MANhaving MAN server computer(s) and associated with at least one clientfor editing MMC, the at least one remote MAN constructed and configuredin electronic communication over a network to a global media hub (GMH)and GMH server computer(s) having software programs operable thereon tocontrol all processes that act on the MMC at the MAN, and the GMHoperable for centrally storing metadata associated with the MMC; aclient user interface (UI) on a display at the client and coupled to theat least one remote MAN via the network, the MAN being positioned ingeographic proximity to the client and operable for acting on the MMC ascontrolled by the GMH for editing the MMC at the MAN; and a configurableworkflow editor (CFE) module controlled by the GMH, the CFE furtherincluding a messaging events function for automatically generating anotification of the occurrence of the user-predetermined at least onetrigger event(s) within workflows through the system.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a system and methodfor a media as a service (MaaS) to at least manipulate and distributemultimedia content (MMC) with the associated trans-coding, storage andmetadata residing or being performed on a web platform. Advantageouslythis MaaS system and method provides on-demand services to MAN locationsthat have demand production users who need to share content with theircustomers and suppliers; demand from broadcast users looking to exploitthe benefits of distributed collaborative working; demand from postproduction users who need to share content with their customers andsuppliers; and opportunity users of the platform, or aggregators who canlease or rent the platform, for the owner of purchased rights andreformats for region.

These objects and other aspects of the present invention will becomeapparent to those skilled in the art after a reading of the followingdetailed description of the preferred embodiments of the presentinvention, when considered with the drawings, as they support theclaimed invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating one embodiment of the presentinvention, showing the global media hub server computer and componentsthereof, the media asset node (MAN) server computer and componentsthereof, and web services provided thereby, via an Internet connectionbetween the remotely located GMH and MAN server computers, for providingthe system and methods according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic flow diagram illustrating one embodiment of thepresent invention, showing the global media hub server computer andcomponents thereof, the media asset node (MAN) server computer andcomponents thereof, and web services provided thereby, via an Internetconnection between the remotely located GMH and MAN server computers,for providing the system and methods according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating components of the system forproviding web-based multimedia editing and media asset storage,according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating functional components of thesystems and methods of the present invention, showing global media hubserver computer enabling components, core framework, media storage andprocessing, and an operational services layer.

FIG. 5 is another schematic diagram illustrating a distributed systemhaving a global media hub server computer and a multiplicity of remotemedia asset node (MAN) server computers and client or customer computersor terminals.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating the workflow and relationalactivities between the global media hub (GMH), the media asset node(MAN), client browser on a client computer, and external activitiesand/or data sources.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating the processes of sending media toCraft Editor showing steps associated with creating the work order forprocessing by the system of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating the processes of sending mediafrom Craft Editor showing steps associated with automatically processingto import the media asset or content, or edited multimedia content (MMC)by the system of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring now to the drawings in general, the illustrations are for thepurpose of describing a preferred embodiment of the invention and arenot intended to limit the invention thereto.

The present invention provides systems and methods for editingmultimedia content, and more particularly, to systems and methods forediting multimedia content, including remote editing terminals inelectronic communication over a network with a server computer thataddress and overcome problems associated with prior art online videoediting systems and methods. Examples of problems associated with priorart include slow download and real-time editing video content remotelyfrom the server computer whereupon the video content is stored. Also,problems associated with content digital rights management trackingexist in the prior art, since metadata associated with the video contentis not connected with the content after editing or derivative workscreated from the original video content components (or subcomponents)that were included in the video content itself.

In embodiments and the following examples and figures illustrating thepresent invention systems and methods, there are two main elementsoperable in concert over a distributed network to transform multimediacontent into edited and/or repurposed content: a global media hub (GMH)and at least one media asset node (MAN). The global media hub (GMH) isthe core of the system, having the core applications thereon that driveworkflows, orchestrate services, manage metadata, and provide secure andcontrolled access to the multimedia content stored on the GMH forediting and repurposing. The orchestration layer provides for a set ofworkflows or work orders to be organized in a series of differentprocesses and/or tasks to provide an end-to-end workflow for the MMCediting services. The GMH assembles low level services at the MAN in alogic-based order that is predetermined, or created within a work orderbased on client inputs. Examples of work orders include the functions ofingest and transcode, and subcomponents of work orders. Examples oforchestrated services include: import process>grab essence>create browsecopy>create thumbnails or series of thumbnails>save in storage; publishcontent from deep storage>transcode>move to publishing point via FTP.

The GMH includes at least one GMH server computer having a memory, aprocessor, input/output devices, a power supply, all constructed,configured and coupled to be operable for software installed thereon,and for interactivity via a network for storing, controlling, sendingand receiving data, as is known to one of ordinary skill in the art, andfurther includes an user interface associated with the GMH controllerserver computer and database(s) having multimedia content (MMC) andcorresponding metadata associated with the MMC stored thereon, andsoftware installed and operable on the GMH server computer functioningto control the orchestration of processes that act on the MMC andcorresponding metadata, which are stored in memory or data storagemodule(s) in the GMH. These processes that act on the MMC includeactivities and services that act on the MMC and corresponding metadata,including but not limited to Software as a Service (SaaS)-based servicesinitiated from at least one remote server computer (MAN) that aredistributed geographically remotely from the GMH and coupled thereto vianetwork connection, preferably an Internet connection. By contrast tothe prior art, the present invention advantageously provides all MMCstorage, including storage of corresponding metadata for all MMC, at theMANs, including a browse copy of the original MMC and edited MMC, butprovides an unique identifier for each MMC or essence, which isexclusively and always stored at the GMH. Advantageously, storing theMMC at the MAN server(s) located more proximal to the client computerterminal(s) than the GMH itself, accelerates processing services timeand workflow over the network, since it provides web-browser-basedoperations and editors allowing for remote client-based editingoperations via the MAN server(s) over broadband Internet connectiontherebetween.

According to the present invention, the systems and methods furtherinclude a configurable workflow editor module residing at the GMH, theconfigurable workflow editor having a messaging events function fornotifying the user of the occurrence of user-predetermined at least onetrigger event(s) within workflows through the system; (b) the MAN andGMH receiving workflow request inputs from a client user interface (UI)for directing workflow acting on the MMC, the workflow control beingmanaged at the GMH; (c) the configurable workflow editor modulereceiving inputs from the client UI, the inputs including theuser-predetermined at least one trigger event; (d) the system operatingto execute a workflow including the user-predetermined at least onetrigger event; and (e) the configurable workflow editor moduleautomatically detecting the existence of the user-predetermined at leastone trigger event and automatically generating a notification thereoffor transmission to the client over the network.

The methods of the present invention associated with the configurableworkflow editor module and messaging events notification aspects of itinclude the foregoing steps and preferably further includes theconfigurable workflow editor module sending a notification over thenetwork from the MAN to the client, wherein the notification includesindication of the occurrence of the user-predetermined at least onetrigger event.

The GMH is further operable to provide a navigation option to the client(inbox at the client UI and/or email notice—and web services URL fordirect linking), wherein activation of the option further includes theGMH providing navigation to a work order within the system andautomatically generating an interactive view of the work order on theclient UI (from the inbox notification can navigate to the actual workorder, including details of the work order or WO summary or index; stateof the WO in the notification). Also, the GMH automatically provides viathe network to the client, access to the work order through the networkvia the client UI or through web services via the MAN, and may alsoprovide a selectable option for creating another work order that isviewable at the client UI, navigating to another work order within thesystem, and combinations thereof.

Automatic notification by the GMH to the client is operable in via twooptions, either separately or in combination: the notification isautomatically provided from the GMH via email notification to the clientand/or from the GMH via the client UI.

The inputs for the user-predetermined at least one trigger event arereceived from a selection from a listing of events provided through theUI that are configurable, defined and modifiable by the client, the atleast one trigger event and listing thereof at the GMH for controlthereby includes workflow events, including event start, eventcompletion, event success, event failure, and combinations thereof, andmay further include intermediate steps or sub-events within theworkflow, including review required, approval required, review complete,approval complete, input required, and combinations thereof.

Furthermore, the present invention provides a distributed system forediting multimedia content (MMC) including: at least one remote MANhaving MAN server computer(s) and associated with at least one clientfor editing MMC, the at least one remote MAN constructed and configuredin electronic communication over a network to a global media hub (GMH)and GMH server computer(s) having software programs operable thereon tocontrol all processes that act on the MMC at the MAN, and the GMHoperable for centrally storing metadata associated with the MMC; aclient user interface (UI) on a display at the client and coupled to theat least one remote MAN via the network, the MAN being positioned ingeographic proximity to the client and operable for acting on the MMC ascontrolled by the GMH for editing the MMC at the MAN; and a configurableworkflow editor (CFE) module controlled by the GMH, the CFE furtherincluding a messaging events function for automatically generating anotification of the occurrence of the user-predetermined at least onetrigger event(s) within workflows through the system. In one embodimentof the system, the UI resides at a client terminal coupled with the atleast one MAN, and the UI controller resides at the GMH. Also, oralternatively, the configurable workflow editor module is operable totransmit automatically the notification over the network via webservices from the MAN to the client. Preferably, the configurableworkflow editor further includes a navigation option activatable at theclient UI or from a URL from within an email notification, whereinactivation of the option further includes the GMH providing navigationto a work order within the system and automatically generating aninteractive view of the work order on the client UI. Again, the GMH isoperable for automatically providing access to the work order throughthe network via the client UI, and/or automatically providing throughthe network a selectable option for creating another work order and/ornavigating to another work order. Thus, the configurable workflow editorand messaging events system coupled therewith, residing at the GMH,provides for a user-driven multi-stage workflow management systems andmethods for the user-driven workflows. In one example, a user subscribesto events based upon workflows relevant to the user at a client site;the user provides inputs and/or subscribes to events, i.e.,predetermined trigger events and/or intermediate steps associated withworkflows, for which the user has role-based permission andauthorization to access.

By way of example and not limitation, in a transcode workflow, the userdoes not need to watch them function, but would like to be notified whenthe transcode activity succeeds or fails, when it starts, and/or when itfinishes. Each user determines a personal notification by the GMH, butmay be guided by rules available for predetermined user roles that arestored at the GMH and controlled thereby. Advantageously, it is thecentrally located, content activity and workflow controlling GMH andremote MAN roundtripping functionality with the client accessing contentfrom the MAN, but client UI requests being directed to the GMH for itscontrol thereof that provides for the streamlined, customizable andconfigurable workflow editor according to the present invention.

It is the MAN-based MMC, which is acted upon for editing by the client,including its extraction of the browse copy from the MAN for editing,such as sending the MMC to Craft Editor through a workorder; and thensending edited MMC from Craft Editor, wherein the edited MMC is uploadedto its destination in a hot folder and then received into the system forstorage at the MAN, if and only if a corresponding metadata to theedited MMC is included with the edited MMC, so that the edited MMCmetadata is received and stored centrally on the GMH. Thus, theseparation of the MAN and the GMH advantageously provides flexibility ofhosting the content-intensive operations at the MAN, which is closer tothe client location than the GMH. The MAN is located typically either ator proximal to a client site, due to bandwidth requirements for transferand/or management of the MMC. In preferred embodiments of the presentinvention, a single GMH, which is preferably centrally located for thesystem, is operable to support a multiplicity of distributed MANs, whichfurther provide for MMC storage proximal to the client for editing to bemanaged and controlled by the GMH through a single user interface, sinceit is the GMH that controls and manages the core operations and servicesvia the network through the distributed MANs.

The MMC comprises audio and/or video material, clips, frames, a seriesof frames, text, images, and combinations thereof, and from componentsor elements, subcomponents or sub-elements thereof. Also MMC may furtherinclude, scripts, documents, titles, interactive, executables, HTML, oranything that is associated with the content or essence to be edited,repurposed and/or managed within the system.

As illustrated in the FIGS. 1 through 8, in particular in FIG. 6, theuser interface control is situated and controlled within the GMH; theuser client login is operable via the Internet or other network having adirect connection from the client to the GMH; the user login function isoperable via a URL to the platform of the system. The user request isthen directed a UI proxy server that resides within the MAN, whichredirects to the GMH via the connection between the MAN and the GMH,which serves up the UI pages via that connection back to the user at theclient; the user interacts remotely from the GMH through the web browserUI at the client for searching, interacting with the GMH; if the userfrom the client is only acting on the metadata then that activity isdirected to the GMH only; however, if the user at the client includesactivities of editing MMC or essence and doing workflow, then the systemand methods of the present invention automatically redirect to the MANs,so that all workflow-based activity occurs at the MAN. So then to ingestcontent, the client UI displays the directory that sits in the MAN tothe user via the GMH; all loading of MMC for editing or repurposing isdone on the MAN. Thus the processes of the system appear to betransparent to the user, with the control of the MAN for the user at theclient via the GMH, as illustrated in FIG. 6. The messaging between theGMH and the MAN(s) controls the services that sits within each of theMANs. An unique ID or metadata corresponding to each MMC isautomatically generated when MMC is introduced to the system, or editedand repurposed, and the metadata is stored at the GMH for the entire theprocess, even though the MMC resides in data storage at the MANs; thisseparation of the metadata storage at the GMH and controlled access bythe GMH, with all MMC storage residing with the MANs, streamlinesediting processes and makes them more efficient, since the content isstored proximal to the client at the MANs, while the control of MMC andmetadata storage are separately and centrally done.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating one embodiment of the presentinvention, showing the system components (100), a global media hubserver computer (110) and components thereof, the media asset node (MAN)server computer (120) and components thereof, and web services providedthereby, via an Internet connection (130) between the remotely locatedGMH and MAN server computers, for providing the system and methodsaccording to the present invention. The MAN server computer furtherincludes a platform distribution (121); a craft edit module (122) thatprovides for nonlinear editing systems, such as taking a rough cutwithin the system of original MMC in a timeline or sequence butselectively using portions of the MMC based on client inputs;hierarchical storage module (123) the browse copies and thumbnails ondisc, and tape-based storage of the high resolution; streamingprocessors (124), and data storage for uploading content (125). Metadatais not stored at the MAN, it's only referential at the MAN. The metadatatag locking and timeline-based metadata against the GMH, which iscentralized; centralized metadata management, and essence storage andediting at the MANs, they can sit anywhere in the system. The mainservices within the MAN support ingest of the content, QC, transcode,storage of the essence, publishing of the essence, craft editintegration within the MAN (send the assets out and then back in).

The GMH further includes at least one server computer upon which webservices elements (111) are operable, including external systemintegration module (112), for automatically managing integration betweenall system components external to the GMH, and an authentication servicemodule (113). GMH and its corresponding server computer(s) furtherinclude a business intelligence module (114) including operational datastorage thereon; an AI repository (115), a transactional repository(116), a user interface (117), a security exposure control module (118),and a core orchestration and service layer (119) further including thebusiness process orchestration service module, low level servicesmodule, and technical services module; all modules and layers of the GMHare constructed and configured to be operable with the software platformcontrolling and operating the GMH as the controlling core of the systemsand methods of the present invention, and which further include themetadata, which provides unique identifiers (IDs) for each MMC withinthe system, including original MMC, edited MMC that is injected into thesystem, including sub-componential MMC-related metadata, which indicatesthe source of the original MMC sub-component, even if it is edited andrepurposed in whole or in part, and included in a new derivative work;importantly, this metadata stored at the GMH persists with the existenceof the original MMC residing at the MAN(s).

FIG. 2 is a schematic flow diagram illustrating components of thepresent invention, generally referenced (200), showing the global mediahub (210), including GMH server computer(s) and components thereof, themedia asset node (MAN) (220) including MAN server computer andcomponents thereof, and web services provided thereby, via an Internetconnection between the centrally located GMH and remotely distributedMAN(s) in a substantially hub-and-spoke relationship, with the MANsbeing located proximal the client, for providing the system and methodsaccording to the present invention. Process flow within the GMH includesthe business intelligence server layer (211) including order managementand order processing functionality, as well as service orchestration andservice oriented architecture (SOA) application server, which flows inconnection and coupled with a business orchestration servicepresentation and user interface (UI) collectively referenced (212),digital asset management services (DAM) and management architecture, alldriven by a grid controller and RAC, in communication with the metadata(213), for MMC management at the GMH, thereby providing a centralizeddatabase at the GMH including all metadata and the unique IDs theyrepresent for all MMC, and a MMC operations log.

In embodiments of the present invention, the communication between theGMH and the at least one MAN, or multiplicity of MANs, occurs over anetwork (such as the Internet, or a direct network) through web servicecalls, which provides for scalability by modular, component-baseddistributed MANs for a single GMH, constructed and configured in ahub-and-spoke architectural framework providing for channel managementand workflow prioritization, wherein the messages within the system passbetween the distributed MANs and the substantially central GMH.Furthermore, the system handles multi-tenancy via a hierarchical modelof Domain>Business>User>Roles. Thus, in the case of multi-tenancy,multiple businesses or clients can be assigned to a single domain,wherein each business or client has its own set of users, and each setof users has its own roles, thereby limiting access to the MMC andcorresponding metadata within the GMH. So then the system architecturefunctions on a multi-tenant environment where one instance is able tosupport multiple organizational content with appropriate security accesscontrolled by the GMH. An indexing service provides information aboutthe distributed MMC assets residing at the MANs within the system, whichallows for streamlined editing and repurposing by the client, withoutaffecting the GMH-based metadata directly.

The business orchestration layer controls the lower level serviceswithin the MAN or provided by the MAN, to execute a series of MMCprocessing activities in a user-defined order or sequence, based uponinputs received through the client computer for operating on the MMC atthe MAN level. The business orchestration layer advantageously allowsfor manipulation and distribution of content across the on-demand,web-based system. GMH also houses a secure reverse proxy process betweenthe CP UI server and CP SOA web services (214) that flow to a web agentmodule and policy server (215). An external device (216) operates on thesystem via web services, functional for connecting the remote client tothe GMH through a UI client side, reporting client and web edit module(217). In methods of the present invention, the system is operable viaservice orchestration architecture (SOA)/BO calls via networkconnection, preferably the Internet, coupling the GMH with the MAN. TheMAN further includes components constructed and configured to beoperable for providing processes of ingest (222) of MMC, contentprocessing (221), publishing (223), video or MMC browsing (224), qualityassurance (QA) (225), and providing a secure reverse proxy (226). MANfunctionality includes importing or injecting MMC in a browse copy MMCformat (which becomes the MAN-based MMC) over a distributed network fromthe GMH onto the platform for editing by the client; transitory storageof MMC from the GMH for editing; transcoding for changing MMC from oneformat to another format; quality control; and publishing. To accelerateprocessing, the MAN-based MMC may be a low resolution copy of the“original” high resolution MMC stored at the MAN (illustrated in FIG.6), and may also include a corresponding lower resolution copy of theMMC for storage at the MAN and used for editing by the client for apredetermined period while editing processing are ongoing (or longer ifthe MMC is particularly useful to the end client). The client works offthe browse copy at the MAN, and at disc storage a high resolutionessence is provided on page storage after the editing on the browse copy(see FIG. 6).

FIG. 3 represents a schematic diagram illustrating select components ofthe system, generally referenced (300), for providing web-basedmultimedia editing and media asset storage, according to an embodimentof the present invention. These select components include, at anintegrations/portal level: broadcasting and studio, content aggregators,production and post-production components; at a supporting mediaapplications and services level: media applications and servicescomponents (310), which further include search and retrieval businessservices, editorial compliance and EDL, library management applicationsand services, content formatting and repurposing, and order managementand electronic fulfillment; at a core media services component level:core media services and middleware (320), with the metadata storage andmanagement centrally on the GMH while MMC is stored remotely on theMANs, content processing operations, such as for example,transformation, packaging and encoding, content processing schedulingand coordination, media transformation content flows, i.e., ingest andlibrary management, content manipulations and packaging; and, at a mediainfrastructure level: IT infrastructure; media specific technologies andproducts; networking infrastructure.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating functional components(generally referenced (400)) of the systems and methods of the presentinvention, illustrating tiered layers including global media hub and itsenabling components (410) including server computer(s), core framework(420), media storage and processing (430), and an operational serviceslayer (440). The enabling components layer (410) includes the followingmodules: production workflows, ingest encode processing, rough cuteditor, search and browse, video (or MMC) file transfer, timecodecapture and logging, archive management, metadata management, technicalquality control (QC), conformance & watermark, stills/scripts/documentmanagement, order management, compliance management, desktopintegration, view and approve, and syndication. The core framework layer(420) includes the following modules: reporting, SOA and multi-tenancycore, digital asset management, workflow engine, hierarchical storagemanagement, content distribution, security and audit framework. Themedia storage and processing layer (430) includes the following modules:archive storage, cache media storage, media movement & streaming,processing & AI, and desktop tool integration. The operational servicelayer (440) includes the following modules: support desk adminfunctions, infrastructure hosting and management, applicationmanagement, design and development, and business analysis andimplementation.

FIG. 5 is another schematic diagram illustrating a distributed systemhaving a global media hub and a multiplicity of remote media asset nodes(MANs) and client or customer MAN computers located proximal the MANsfor editing and repurposing the content or MMC stored on the MANs, withthe client or customer computers being constructed and configured fornetwork-based coupling to at least one of the MAN server computersand/or GMH via a user interface, wherein the MANs are positioned incloser proximity to—closer distance to—the client computer(s) than thedistance between the client computer and the GMH. As shown, the GMHserver computers includes processing components, memory for storage ofthe MMC-corresponding metadata, and includes software operable thereonfor orchestrating the processes that act on the MMC stored at the MANsand metadata stored at the GMH, including the operations and actionsthat are initiated by the client computer terminals via browser UI andnetwork connection. The GMH (500) includes the main controller serverfor all of the MAN server computers (510, 520, 530, 540, 550) and forcontrolling and orchestrating the processes that act on the MMC andmetadata, including actions by the MAN for importing and storing abrowse copy of the MMC proximal to the client terminals (515, 525, 535,536, 537, 545, 555) for editing thereby, in addition to the MAN storageof the original MMC. The GMH and its server computers (500) maintainsecurity, holds the metadata, controls the workflows for activities onthe MMC, and manages integration processes. Also as shown, each of theshared MAN (530, 550) and customer MAN (510, 520, 540) server computersincludes processing components (511, 521, 531, 541, 551), a cachestorage component (512, 522, 532, 542, 552), and an archive storagecomponent (513, 523, 533, 543, 553), respectively; collectively withineach MAN server computer, these components are constructed andconfigured for performing the processes on the MMC stored locally on therespective MAN server computers, including the functions of importing,storing, streaming, editing, manipulating, and combinations thereof.

FIG. 6 shows a flow diagram illustrating the workflow and processes ofthe system, generally referenced (600), according to an embodiment ofthe present invention, and relational activities between the globalmedia hub (GMH) (including components or functions 620, 621, 622, 612,623, 624, 625), the media asset node (MAN) (including components orfunctions 602, 603, 604, 605, 606, 607), client browser (601) on aclient computer, and external activities and/or data sources. As shown,the workflow request initiates from a client browser (601) including abrowse editor module, HTML-based interface, and SWF file modules, whichcommunicate via SOAP, HTTPS, and over HTTPS, respectively, to a UI proxyserver (602) residing with the MAN relating to that client. The UI proxyserver passes the request by the client through the web service gateway(612) via the GMH-controller via a security proxy server (620), whichfurther includes web edit components, the UI server (621), ultimately tothe GMH SOA server (622). The UI proxy server also directs the processflow for essence stored within the MAN to the media server (603), whichalso resides within the MAN.

Also illustrated in FIG. 6, to the client, the processes and methods ofthe present invention appear seamlessly provided by the MAN; however,while all MMC or essence resides with the MAN, including functionalmodules (604) for operations of BO Essence service, which calls the MMCor essence from the disk storage (605) associated with that MAN,including all MMC, for example image, documents, browse, copy, andthumbnails; quality control (QC), video analysis, media mover, andtranscode, as illustrated. These media server (603) calls are controlledand authorized by the system via the GMH SOA server (622), whichincludes modules for order management services, BPO services,synchronous services, low level services (at MAN (604)), GDAM services,a controller layer, DAO and DAO layer, which accesses the metadatadatabase (624) within GMH via the GMH-controlled BO web services (623).Note that the GMH-controlled BO web services (623) also controls accessto the hi resolution tape storage (607) via front porch actors (606),both of which are within the MAN functionality.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating the processes of sending media toCraft Editor, generally referenced (700) showing steps associated withcreating the work order for processing by the system of the presentinvention. Method steps illustrated in the flow diagram of FIG. 7 showthe arrangement of the system allowing editing of a browse copy of theMMC at a producer level (710), which may be operable outside the MAN,but in network-based coupling to the MAN servers for uploading media orMMC and its corresponding edit decision list (EDL) (711) created inbrowse editor and the sub-steps associated with the process of creatingsend to Craft Editor Workorder (713) culminating in a process workorderrequest (714), which necessarily requires a high resolution file (715)of the MMC and an XML file of metadata (716) corresponding to the MMCbefore the media is moved into the system level (720) including a stepfor creating medway XML and EDL, containing a placeholder and clip UMIDsand timecodes (721) and then the media is uploaded to a destination hotfolder (722) and the “media sent” result (723) as shown at the middlelevel of the figure, between the producer and the editor levels on thetop and bottom of the figure. At the Producer level the step of “processwork order request” (714) for sending MMC to Craft Editor, requires thecreation of a high resolution (hi res) file of the MMC and an XML fileof metadata corresponding to the MMC, in order for the media to be sentand received into the system for inclusion as a media asset stored atthe MAN. At the editor level (730) the steps of receive notification(731) moves the process forward via open medway application (732), movemedia or MMC to hot folder to destination folder (733), medway convertsto target format (734), and then automatically allowing the user to dragthe MMC into Craft Edit Bin (735), which concludes the process to allowthe media or MMC to be received (736) for editing by the client.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating the processes of sending mediafrom Craft Editor, generally referenced (800) showing steps associatedwith automatically processing to import the media asset or content froma production level (810), or edited multimedia content (MMC) by thesystem of the present invention, at the starting point of Craft Editcomplete (811) and exporting craft edit to Medway (812) for storage atthe MAN included at level Mosaic (830), which step (812) requires thecreation of a hi res file (821) and corresponding AFF/XML sequence file(822); note that the exporting step (812) reclaims the placeholder andclip UMIDs in the returned AFF/XML. The Medway level (820) includessteps of receive media (823) converting to another format (824)preferred by the system at the next level (830) and stores media in hotfolder (825), which requires the creation of the high resolution file(827) and XML file of metadata (828) for storage within the system atthe MAN and GMH levels, respectively. This level processing ends withmedia in hot folder (826) and begins the next level (830) with mediaavailable at step (821). If it is MMC from Craft Edit media, adecision-based automated direction by the system at (832) routes to anautomated process by the system of the present invention to Import assetautomatically (833), including sub-steps to load media from watch folder(A) to place media in return placeholder (B) to store media at MAN inthe system (C), storing clip UMIDs in the geneology strata (D) andprocess workflow request (E) ending with the media stored (834) andreceive notification of work order completion (844) and join pointresult (845) at producer level (840). If the edited MMC is not CraftEdti media then at the producer level steps of receive emailnotification (841), create import media workorder (842) and processworkorder request (843) result in the join point (845).

As set forth in this description, it is the MAN-based MMC that is actedupon for editing by the client, including its extraction of the browsecopy from the MAN for editing outside, such as sending the MMC to CraftEditor through a workorder, as illustrated in FIG. 7; and then sendingedited MMC from Craft Editor, illustrated in FIG. 8, wherein the editedMMC is uploaded to its destination in a hot folder and then receivedinto the system for storage at the MAN, if and only if a correspondingmetadata to the edited MMC is included with the edited MMC, so that theedited MMC metadata is received and stored centrally on the GMH. Thus,the separation of the MAN and the GMH advantageously providesflexibility of hosting the content-intensive operations at the MAN,which is closer to the client location than the GMH. The MAN is locatedtypically either at or proximal to a client site, due to bandwidthrequirements for transfer and/or management of the MMC.

Furthermore, the at least one remote server computer (MAN) includes amultiplicity of server computers in geographic distribution from theGMH, wherein at least one client computer terminal is coupled inelectronic network communication to one of the MANs, and wherein thedistance from any of the at least one client computer terminals to theMAN is less than the distance from those same terminals to the GMHserver computer. Advantageously, this configuration of client terminalsin closer proximity to the MANs than to the GMH provides for greatlyimproved editing speed, because preferred embodiments of the presentinvention provides for storage of a copy of the MMC at the MANs closestto the client terminals for editing that copy by the client terminalinstead of having a much more remote communication distance between theclient terminal and the GMH.

The GMH further includes a security exposure control module, businessservices modules, and a user interface module, that is viewable on auser interface of a remote display connected via a network, such as theInternet, and that provides for a multiplicity of interactivefunctionality on the GMH, including controlling all functionality of thesystem through the central GMH, including review and approval, librarymanagement, rough cut, logging, user administration, finding assets,searching, reporting view, view proxy, order receipt management, fileingest, publishing, dashboard, capture asset information, view assetinformation, workflow tracking, folders, clipping, and combinationsthereof. Additionally, the systems and methods of the present inventionprovide for managing MMC by the MAN and their interaction with the GMH,wherein each MAN, which includes computer server(s) having a processingunit capable of executing instructions, either directly or received froma client or customer computer terminal via the client browser and webinterface, and wherein the MAN further include a search moduleprogrammed and operable to searching for MMC by the client terminal. TheMAN server computer-based storage modules include both disk storage(FIG. 6 at 605) and tape storage (607), and are further programmed tooperate as a content center for the client web-based MMC editingactivity, wherein that activity by the client terminal acting on the MMCis preferably acting on the local copy of the MMC stored at the MAN, andis not directly editing or acting on the GMH, or the metadata storedthereon. The MAN storage module closest to the client terminal providesfor management of the client MMC within the MAN server computer,including any client activity on the client MMC (MMC imported from theGMH server computer for acting on by the client user at the clientterminal), by way of example, allowing the client user to add, delete,view, annotate, comment on, modify, edit, organize, arrange, categorize,label, send, receive the MMC, components of MMC, and/or sub-componentsof MMC material (such as thumbnail representations or images of MMC);again, advantageously with the systems and methods of the presentinvention, it is this MAN-based MMC (or MMC copy or MMC proxy) havingclosest proximity to the client terminal (as compared with the GMH) thataccelerates the processing of all MMC in the online, network, orweb-based environment.

Additional processes that originate at the client terminal computer orMAN server computer directed at the MMC stored on the MANs includesearch, tracking, reporting, transcoding, translation, video-to-textrepresentation, speech-to-text representation, etc. The client user canupload content to the system; user logs onto the MMC mover module, whichresides in the GMH or in a MAN; it depends upon network connections, butpreferably sitting within the GMH. Content is either provided physicallyto the MAN, or via logging onto a web-based browser, send selectedcontent to a platform, and then ingested into the platform.Significantly, there is a prerequisite of metadata including an uniqueidentifier corresponding to the MMC, to determine where to save it. TheGMH controller functions will not allow content to be loaded unless theMMC or content further includes its unique ID metadata, which is createdwith the creation of new MMC, and persists indefinitely (stored at theGMH) for each original MMC, its subcomponents or sub-elements, andsurvives editing and repurposing for MMC or its subcomponents orsub-elements, if they are included in edited MMC that it reintroduced tothe system at the MANs.

Methods of the present invention for editing multimedia content (MMC)and creating derivative works from multimedia content include the stepsof: (a) providing at least one remote media asset node (MAN) having MANserver computer(s) that are associated with at least one client forediting a multimedia content (MMC), the at least one remote MANconstructed and configured in electronic communication over a network toa global media hub (GMH) including GMH server computer(s) having aprocessor, a memory, and software operable thereon to control theprocesses that act on the MMC stored at the MANs, and the GMH operablefor storing metadata associated with the MMC and the GMH operable forcontrolling activities on the MMC at the MANs; (b) from a user interfaceon a display coupled to the at least one remote MAN associated with aclient site and positioned in geographic proximity to the client site,acting on the MMC via a browser-based user interface (UI) at the client;(c) editing the MMC; and (d) introducing the edited MMC to the MANs withcorresponding edited-MMC metadata to the GMH. Also, the method mayfurther include the steps of: (d) the GMH storing metadata from theoriginal MMC and the edited MMC metadata, and (e) the MAN storing theoriginal MMC and the edited MMC. Additionally, the system furtherincludes an original MMC, a browse copy MMC that is a lower resolutioncopy of the original MMC, and an edited MMC, and the MAN server computeris further operable to perform the following steps: (e) storing a copyof the original MMC, and an edited MMC; (f) providing an edit userinterface (EUI) at a client terminal for communicating with the MAN forediting the original MMC to form the edited MMC; and (g) introducingedited-MMC metadata (metadata unique to the edited MMC) to the GMH forstorage at the GMH.

Certain modifications and improvements will occur to those skilled inthe art upon a reading of the foregoing description. The above-mentionedexamples are provided to serve the purpose of clarifying the aspects ofthe invention and it will be apparent to one skilled in the art thatthey do not serve to limit the scope of the invention. All modificationsand improvements have been deleted herein for the sake of concisenessand readability but are properly within the scope of the presentinvention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for providing configurable workflow forediting multimedia content and messaging events therein, the methodcomprising: providing a global media hub (GMH) including at least oneGMH server computer; providing at least one remote media asset node(MAN) in electronic communication over a network with the GMH, the atleast one MAN server computer associated with at least one client, theat least one MAN for editing multimedia content (MMC) and storing theMMC; providing a configurable workflow editor module; and providing aclient user interface (UI); receiving at the at least one MAN and theGMH a request for a workflow that acts on the MMC, the request receivedfrom the client user interface (UI); receiving at least oneuser-predetermined trigger workflow event from the client UI at theconfigurable workflow editor module, the at least one user-predeterminedtrigger workflow event selected from event start, event completion,event success, event failure, and combinations thereof; directing withthe client UI the workflow acting on the MMC at the at least one MAN;controlling, with the GMH, all activities and processes associated withthe workflow acting on the MMC at the at least one MAN; storing allmetadata associated with the MMC at the GMH; detecting the at least oneuser-predetermined trigger event with the configurable workflow editormodule; generating a notification of the detected at least oneuser-predetermined trigger event with the configurable workflow editormodule; and transmitting the notification to the at least one clientover the network.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the the at least oneuser-predetermined trigger workflow event selected from a listing ofevents provided through the UI.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein theconfigurable workflow editor module sending a notification over thenetwork from the at least one MAN to the at least one client, whereinthe notification includes indication of the occurrence of theuser-predetermined at least one trigger workflow event.
 4. The method ofclaim 3, further including the GMH automatically providing through thenetwork via the client UI a selectable option for navigating to anotherwork order.
 5. The method of claim 1, further including the GMHproviding a navigation option to the at least one client, whereinactivation of the option further includes the GMH providing navigationto a work order within the system and automatically generating aninteractive view of the work order on the client UI.
 6. The method ofclaim 5, further including the GMH automatically providing access to thework order through the network via the client UI.
 7. The method of claim5, further including the GMH automatically providing through the networkvia the client UI or web services via the at least one MAN, a selectableoption for creating another work order.
 8. The method of claim 1,wherein the at least one trigger workflow event includes an intermediatestep in the workflow, and is selected from review required, approvalrequired, review complete, approval complete, input required, andcombinations thereof.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the notificationis automatically provided from the GMH via email notification to the atleast one client.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the notification isautomatically provided from the GMH via the client UI.
 11. A distributedsystem for editing multimedia content (MMC) comprising: a global mediahub (GMH) including at least one GMH server computer; at least oneremote media asset node (MAN) in electronic communication over a networkwith the GMH, the at least one MAN server computer associated with atleast one client, the at least one MAN for editing multimedia content(MMC) and storing the MMC; a configurable workflow editor module; and aclient user interface (UI); wherein the at least one MAN and the GMH areoperative for receiving a request for a workflow that acts on the MMC,the request received from the client user interface (UI); wherein theconfigurable workflow editor module is operative for receiving at leastone user-predetermined trigger workflow event from the client UI, the atleast one user-predetermined trigger workflow event selected from eventstart, event completion, event success, event failure, and combinationsthereof; wherein the client UI is operative for directing the workflowacting on the MMC at the at least one MAN; wherein the GMH is furtheroperative for controlling all activities and processes associated withthe workflow acting on the MMC at the at least one MAN and storing allmetadata associated with the MMC at the GMH; wherein the configurableworkflow editor module is further operative for detecting the at leastone user-predetermined trigger event, generating a notification of thedetected at least one user-predetermined trigger event, and transmittingthe notification to the at least one client over the network.
 12. Thesystem of claim 11, wherein the UI resides at a client terminal coupledwith the at least one MAN, and the UI controller resides at the GMH. 13.The system of claim 11, wherein the configurable workflow editor moduleis operable to transmit automatically the notification over the networkfrom the at least one MAN to the at least one client.
 14. The system ofclaim 11, the configurable workflow editor further includes a navigationoption activatable at the client UI, wherein activation of the optionfurther includes the GMH providing navigation to a work order within thesystem and automatically generating an interactive view of the workorder on the client UI.
 15. The system of claim 11, wherein the GMH isoperable for automatically providing access to the work order throughthe network via the client UI.
 16. The system of claim 11, wherein theGMH is operable for automatically providing through the network via theclient UI a selectable option for creating another work order.
 17. Thesystem of claim 11, wherein the GMH is operable for automaticallyproviding through the network a selectable option for navigating toanother work order.